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Heather Raffo (M.F.A . '98) gives voices to Iraqi women through art

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Last May, Heather Raffo ’98 mesmerized her USD audience with her performance of her own play “9 Parts of Desire.” What began as Raffo’s master’s thesis project at The Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program has matured into an internationally acclaimed play.

“9 Parts of Desire” tells the story of nine Iraqi women living in Iraq, the United States and Europe. Based on interviews conducted by Raffo while visiting her father’s homeland of Iraq, these monologues describe the fears, hopes, celebrations and sadness of Iraqi women throughout the world. The inspiration for this collection of stories came during a visit to an Iraqi art museum, where Raffo found a painting of a woman that transfixed her. “I stood motionless in front of the painting. I felt she had captured something within me. I took a photo of the painting, came back to America and over the last ten years have been digesting this painting and what it must mean to be an Iraqi woman now," she comments on her website. (Full Story)